Wild Kratts, Season 3, Episode 14: Bug War
by ShorinRyuKarateKobudo
Summary: The Kratt Brothers spend the night in the Amazon rainforest, only to have the Tortuga become overrun by so many bugs of the Amazon thanks in part to Jimmy who decided it was a good idea to open the window late at night. With so many bugs hiding in different nooks and crannies, the Kratt Brothers knew one creature that can help flush them all out: the centipede.


Location: Amazon Rainforest

Featured Animals: Giant Centipede, Goliath Tarantula, Brazilian Yellow Scorpion, Giant Cockroach, Different Species of Flies, Moths, Beetles, Grasshoppers, and Crickets

Mention animals: Giant African Millipede

Villains of the Week: None

Animal name(s): Wavy-Legs

It is night-time and the Wild Kratts are situated in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, prepared to end their day of trekking with a good night sleep.

Martin yawns, "Whelp, another great adventure. We really need to do this more often than work."

"Fun is good," said Chris, "Saving for a good cause benefits our fun more."

"He's right," said Aviva about to go to sleep, "Besides, we need to be re-energized for our next adventure. Otherwise, I will be too sleepy to invent."

"I would be too groggy to work the monitor," said Koki about to go to sleep.

"And I would be too tired to fly the Tortuga and work the teleporter," said Jimmy about to go to sleep.

"But you're always taking naps in the day time, Jimmy," said Brandon.

"Yeah, but they don't help re-energize me, which is why I sleep," said Jimmy.

Brandon gives Jimmy and awkward look.

"Well, good night everybody!" said Martin who goes to sleep in his sleeping bag.

"Keep on Creature-venturing!" said Chris who then falls asleep.

"Oh, I forgot," said Jimmy who stops Brandon from turning off the lights, "We can't sleep well without some fresh air!"

Jimmy runs to the control panel to open all the windows.

"Jimmy, wait!" Brandon shouted.

"Don't do it!" Chris shouted.

Right when all the windows open, swarms of flies, moths, and other insects fly straight into the Tortuga, waking everyone else up.

"AHHHHH!" the girls screamed.

"Huh!?" said Martin.

The entire Tortuga is swarmed with insects, crawling on, around, and even into every crack and crevice they can squeeze into. Everyone is in disarray.

"This is why we don't open the windows in the middle of an Amazon rainforest," said Chris, "All the insects get attracted to the bright lights in the Tortuga and now they are all over the place."

"I'm sorry guys," said Jimmy feeling guilty, "This has never happened to us at our other trips."

"That's because at places like the African savannah or Appalachian mountains don't have high diversity and density of bugs unlike here in the South American rainforest," said Martin.

"And even so, we always make sure to prep the Tortuga so that no bug can crawl in, get around, and get onto us in the Tortuga," said Koki, "It helps to keep unwanted hitchhikers from invading foreign lands."

"But now the Tortuga is riddled with bugs," said Aviva, "We have to get eradicate as many of them as possible!"

"But there's too many," said Jimmy, "And my butterfly net cannot catch them all."

"Not to mention that some of the bugs are hiding deep in every crevice they can find," said Brandon, "It would be nearly impossible to get them out without taking everything apart."

"Oh yeah," said Chris, "Just like in the wild where in one tree, the insects would hide in every nook cranny they can fit in. In fact, one tree can have as many as 65,000 different species of insects alone!"

"That's it!" Koki panicked, "I'm getting my bug-spray!"

"Koki, no!" Chris stopped her, "You can't use that, it'll kill all these bugs!"

"Yeah, not to mention the chemicals in that bug-spray can also be harmful to the environment," said Martin.

"Well, there's got to be another way," said Aviva thinking of a plan.

Everyone else joins in while shooing away the bugs. Aviva hatched an idea.

"That's it!" said Aviva, "Since there's too many to catch all at once, why not just heard them out, like cows?"

"That's a great idea, Aviva!" said Martin.

"All we need to do now is think about a bug predator that can squeeze into every nook and cranny and scare off the insects," said Chris, "But what?"

"Or, I can use my mobile fly cam to scare them off," said Aviva readying her spy bot.

The fly cam flies off and starts scaring away the insects. Unbeknownst to Aviva piloting the fly cam, a Brazilian wandering spider lurks nearby, waiting for the fly cam to approach close enough. Once in range, the spider lunges and destroys the fly cam.

"AHHHHH!" Aviva screamed in fear, "That giant spider destroyed my fly cam!"

"SPIDER!" Jimmy screamed and tries to climb on top of Koki's computer.

"That's a huge spider!" said Koki.

"Whoa, a Brazilian wandering spider!" said the Kratt brothers.

"Or banana spider," said Chris taking a close look at the spider that destroyed Aviva fly cam.

"I don't like the name banana spider to begin with," said Koki, "If it means that whenever I eat a banana, I get a mouthful of that!"

"Oh, the Brazilian wandering spider is the world's deadliest species of arachnids in the world," said Chris, "With a potent neurotoxin that can cause paralysis."

The Brazilian wandering spider stands on its hind legs and rocks from side-to-side.

"Whoa, it's doing its defensive pose," said Martin, "That's what these spiders do when they feel threatened. They're called wandering spiders because they do not spin webs to catch prey; they simply wandering the rainforest, hunting for food."

"Well, whatever it is, I'm putting on my bio-hazard suit," said Koki.

"Oh come on, Koki, they're just bugs," said Martin, "Surely you'll find some good in them."

"Despite those huge fangs," said Chris, "I mean just look at it. Imagine getting inject with their venom by that."

"Yup, I'm officially putting it on!" said Koki who opens a cabinet to find a Brazilian yellow scorpion on the bio-hazard suit, "SCORPION!"

The Kratt brothers run to the scene.

"Whoa, a Brazilian yellow scorpion," said Martin, "Another venomous arachnid."

"It's one of the deadliest scorpions in the world," said Chris, "Potent enough to kill just about anything."

"Probably just as potent as the Brazilian wandering spider," said Martin.

"Well, I want them all out!" said Koki who's starting to get really cranky.

"Okay, I get it that we're all tired and these bugs are giving us a hard time," said Martin, "But we need to work together as a team in order to clean up this mess."

"Martin is right," said Brandon, "As long as we work together, we can fix pretty much anything."

"Alright," said Aviva, "I'm prepared to build you guys creature powers with either the spider or the scorpion. I can reprogram the golden orb-weaver spider power disk to give you the powers of the wandering spider or make you brand new disks with scorpion powers, which will take me longer."

"Well, both are pretty awesome predators," said Chris, "But they are not gonna be able to help us with what we are trying to accomplish."

"Oh yeah," said Martin, "I mean look at these nooks and crannies these insects are taking up. There's no way the spider can squeeze in and flush these bugs out."

"And the scorpion won't be able to use its stinger in tight spaces when trying to defend itself," said Chris, "We need another bug predator that can catch em' all! But what else lives in the Brazilian rainforest?"

Brandon passes to each member a clip-on bug repellent, "Here, clip these onto your belt loops. The device emits an environmentally-friendly odor that repels the insects and uses a fan to circulate the scentless odor around you. The device only lasts for 24 hours."

"Thanks, babe," said Aviva, "That's plenty of time for me to come up with some kind of invention."

"Huh, the bugs are going away," said Koki, "Whew."

"I can move around," said Jimmy happily, "Yippee!"

"For the time being," said Brandon.

"Oh we won't need one," said Martin, "I want to be able to get up close to bugs as much as I can."

"Yeah, thanks though, but I think I we're gonna need to be able to approach bugs close enough to find our ultimate predator," said Chris.

"Well then, if you don't mind, since you two won't be using them, I'll just simply take these to place around my work station to keep bugs off while I build something," said Aviva who takes the clip-on bug repellents from the Kratt brothers.

She places them on her work station, one on top of her desk and another inside her tool draw so that the bugs would leave her desk. Upon placing one in her tool draw, an Amazonian giant centipede crawls out, freaking out Aviva, "AHHHHHH!"

"A centipede!" said the Kratt brothers.

"It's so creepy!" Aviva panicked.

"But look how cool it is," said Chris, "See how it waves those antennae, it's looking for food by feeling around and also sensing vibration made by prey animals."

"Check out the way it moves around," said Martin, "Moving them like a wave. That's what I'll call you, Wavy-Legs!"

Wavy-Legs prowls around and then confronts the Brazilian wandering spider.

"Martin! A bug war is about to ensue!" said Martin.

"Oh yeah! The world's largest centipede vs. the world's venomous spider in the world!" said Martin, "Even though the spider is doing its warning dance, the centipede has poor vision, so it can't see what the spider is doing.

The spider lunges at Wavy-Legs and Wavy-Legs retaliates by wrapping around the spider, using the two end legs to grip the spider. The spider tries to escape but Wavy-Legs gets around the spider and bites it from behind, killing it and feasts on the spider.

"Awesome!" said the Kratt brothers, "Wavy-Legs won!"

"I'll admit, that was pretty cool," said Aviva.

"Yeah, that spider was doing *hiya but the centipede did *hooya and so forth, ending in its victory!" said Jimmy mimicking fighting moves.

"That is still creepy, considering that it has hundreds of legs," said Koki.

"Actually, true to fact, centipedes don't exactly have 100 legs," said Chris, "In fact, all centipede species have an odd number of pairs of legs."

"Odd number of pairs?" Jimmy asked.

"Yeah, like 15 or 17 pairs," said Koki, "Basically any number not divisible by 2."

"And the largest species can have around 21 or 23 pairs of legs," said Chris.

"I only counted 19 pairs," Aviva observed, "Perhaps Wavy-Legs lost a couple in the fight?"

"Not at all, Aviva," said Chris, "You missed two pairs of distinctively modified legs, on the front and the back."

"The front has modified claws that inject venom, like the spider," said Martin, "And the hind legs have sharp hooks that Wavy-Legs use to defend itself should a predator try to sneak up at it from behind."

While Martin explains about the centipede, the Brazilian yellow scorpion tries to sneak up behind Wavy-Legs.

"Martin, look," Chris shouted, "That scorpion is gonna try to nab Wavy-Legs!

"Cool!" said Martin all excited.

The scorpion attempts to nab Wavy-Legs from behind. Wavy-Legs react by using its hind leg to strike at the scorpion. The scorpion tries to counteract by stinging Wavy-Legs, but Wavy-Legs pulled back quickly. The two carnivorous bugs square off face-to-face.

"Oh yeah!" said Jimmy, "Bug war, round 2! Wavy-Legs vs. scorpion!"

"This battle is gonna be trickier, because the scorpion has two pincers it can use to keep Wavy-Legs at bay and a stinger at the end of its tail that can kill Wavy-Legs, if stung."

"Let's see how this fight ensues!" said Martin.

Wavy-Legs goes head-on and the scorpion holds off Wavy-Legs with its pincers. The scorpion attempts to sting Wavy-Legs, but Wavy-Legs armor deflects the stinger. The scorpion attempts to break free and escape, but Wavy-Legs bites the scorpion by the tail and cuts off the stinger.

"Oo, Wavy-Legs bit off the scorpions main weapon," said Chris, "The stinger."

Wavy-Legs finishes off the scorpion by stinging it with its venomous fangs.

"Now that was awesome," said Martin, "Two deadly, venomous bugs taken down by Wavy-Legs!"

"Okay, now I'm sold," said Aviva who gets to work on the creature power disks, "Two centipede powered disks coming right up!"

"Awesome!" said the Kratt brothers.

Wavy-Leg continues to move on and crawls behind Koki's computer. Bugs start crawling out from behind Koki's computer.

"Hey, Wavy-Legs is actually scaring off the bugs," said Koki, "That's amazing!"

"Oh! I just have to see!" said Martin who anxiously tries to take a peek at what the centipede is doing, only to have a bunch of bugs crawling onto his face.

"Hahahahaha," Chris laughed, "We're never gonna see Wavy-Legs like this at our size."

"Yeah, we need to get smaller to get a better view," said Martin.

"Not unless you want to become Wavy-Legs's next dinner, bro," said Chris.

"How about becoming one with Wavy-Legs," said Aviva who chucks the creature power disks with centipede powers to Chris and Martin, "Heads up, guys!"

Chris and Martin catch the creature power disks with centipede powers, "Awesome!" and insert the disks into their creature power suits.

"Now we need to touch Wavy-Legs, if we can find Wavy-Legs," said Chris.

"Or, we can miniaturize!" said Martin.

"Babe, can you make sure no other bugs get onto the miniaturizer, please?" Aviva asked.

"Not a problem," said Brandon.

"Alright, get ready to get miniaturized!" said Martin who takes out and drops the miniaturizer, which expands and immediately shrinks Chris and Martin when they jump on it. Right away, Brandon pulls out a pari of iron fans and swipes both to create a powerful current of wind that blows away most of the flying insects. The rest of the bugs that try to climb on the miniaturizer were pick off and Brandon puts away the device.

"Phew, that was a close one," said Aviva, "Nobody wants a giant-sized bug crawling around in the Tortuga."

Chris and Martin have shrunken down to bug size and they pursue Wavy-Legs, coming across various species of insects.

"Wow, look at all these moths, flies, and grasshoppers," said Martin, "There are so many different species."

"Yeah, and they are all prey for Wavy-Legs," said Chris pointing at Wavy-Legs, "Look, it's eating a grasshopper."

"Okay, since it's eating something, we should be able to sneak behind and touch it," said Martin.

The Kratt brothers attempt to sneak behind Wavy-Legs to touch it in order to activate their creature power suit. Unbeknownst to them, a giant cockroach crawls toward them and pushes them onto Wavy-Legs. The Kratt brothers immediately hit the button on their creature power suits and shout "Activate Creature Power Suit!" turning into exact copies of an Amazonian giant centipede. Wavy-Legs turns to confront the giant cockroach.

"Whoa there, we'll give you some space," said Chris backing off.

"Whoa, I'm a centipede!" said Martin, "I feel awesome! Look at me move, these pincers are awesome, and I can feel the movement of all these bugs crawling around!"

The Kratt brothers started cleaning their antennae with their mandibles.

"So this is what is feels like to be a centipede," said Chris, "I can feel the vibration of movements being made by all these bugs crawling around."

"Yeah, but what pushed us?" Martin asked.

"That giant cockroach Wavy-Legs is about to make another meal," said Chris.

"Oh yeah, giant cockroaches are the largest species of cockroach in the world, and are one of the few species that can fly," said Martin.

"I don't want that anywhere near my kitchen," said Koki.

Wavy-Legs overcomes the giant cockroach and feeds on it.

"Whoa, did you see that," said Martin, "One swift bite ad that cockroach is a goner!"

"Whelp, there's no time to lose," said Chris, "Lets round-up these bugs!"

"A bug round-up it is," said Martin.

The Kratt brothers get to work scaring up as many of the bugs they can to the nearest windows. One by one, the rest of the gang close the windows after the bugs leave.

"Just look at how many species we are scaring off," saidd Chris.

"Oh yeah, this is fun!" said Martin.

"Hehehe, good job, guys," said Aviva.

"I'm feeling around and all we have left are Wavy-Legs," said Chris.

Wavy-Legs finishes eating and moves out to the nearest open window.

"And Wavy-Legs is out of here," said Martin, "Hey I know, let's follow it!"

"Are you guys sure," Jimmy asked, "Out there where it is dark and scary?"

"We just want to see it go home safely, free and in the wild," said Martin.

"It's like our way of saying thanks," said Chris.

"You do know that centipedes can be very cannibalistic, right?" Brandon asked.

"Like we said, we'll be fine," said Martin.

"Creatures, here we come!" said the Kratt brothers who follow Wavy-Legs.

They follow Wavy-Legs to a rotten log and Wavy-Legs crawls into a hole.

"Whoa, a hollow log," said Chris, "Centipedes like damp, moist environments because they lose moisture pretty quickly, so rotting logs are a perfect shelter for somthing like Wavy-Legs."

"Let's have a look to see what's inside," said Martin who attempts to crawl into Wavy-Legs's home.

"Wait, you might disturb Wavy-Legs," said Chris but Martin is already inside.

"I don't believe what I'm seeing," said Martin.

"Martin, what is it?" Chris asked.

"Wavy-Legs is a mom," said Martin, "She's tending her young. They look like they hatched recently and Wavy-Legs bundling them up in her clutch."

"I have to admit, those centipede babies are kinda cute," said Aviva looking at the monitor.

"I didn't know centipede moms are so protective," said Koki also looking at the monitor, "In fact, if I were a predator, I wouldn't mess with that momma."

"Cool," said Jimmy.

"Well we better get out," said Chris, "Mom centipedes a highly protective."

"Okay, just give me a sec," said Martin about to crawl out.

Chris turns around, only to be confronted by something big.

"Uh, Martin, we really need to get out of here, now!" Chris said frantically.

"What's the rush, Chris?" Martin asks emerging out of Wavy-Leg's home.

"That!" said Chris in fear, "Goliath bird-eating spider!"

"A goliath bird-eating spider?" Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy said together.

"Or the goliath tarantula, one of the largest species of spiders in the world," said Martin staring at the tarantula in paranoia.

The tarantula rears back, revealing its massive fangs.

"Whoa, check out those fangs," said Chris, "They're huge!"

"I don't even like the name 'bird-eating' to start with," said Koki.

"Bird-eating spiders like this get their name from the occasion they catch birds," said Chris.

"But the goliath tarantula will also prey on large insects, other spiders and arachnids, mice, frogs, lizards, and even venomous snakes!" said Martin.

The tarantula flicks off its hair that irritates the brothers' exposed face.

"Ahh!" Martin shouted, "I can't see!?"

"Martin, the tarantula ficked of its itching hairs," said Chris, "It's a defensive strategy!"

"I got it," said Martin, "This tarantula is after the baby centipedes. You can't have them!"

"But where's Wavy-Legs to protect them?" Chris wondered.

The tarantula begins to pounce on Chris and Martin when Wavy-Legs attacks the tarantula from behind.

"Wavy-Legs got the tarantula from behind!" said Aviva.

"This is gonna be a tough one," Jimmy spectates, "Two titans of the bug world duke it out for survival! A real bug war!"

"From the looks of it, Wavy-Legs has the upperhand," said Koki.

The tarantula used all of its strength to shake of Wavy-Legs and grabs on to her. Wavy-Legs bites back and the two continue to duke it out.

"Uh-oh, best not to speak so soon. The tarantula is really powerful," said Brandon, "It could easily overpower most of its victims."

"We have to save Wavy-Legs's babies," said Chris, "Most mom's would abandon their young if the situation gets worst."

"I hear you bro, let's get down there!" said Martin who crawls into the rotting log with Chris.

"Okay, so how does she normally do it?" Chris asked.

"Well, first off, she lays on her back gathers her young, one at a time," said Martin, "She only uses this segment of her legs to hold her young all the time."

"That makes sense," said Aviva back in the Tortuga, "Wavy-Legs would still need to be able to move around while carrying her young, otherwise it would be too difficult for her to move them one at a time."

The brothers gather as many of the centipede larvae they can.

"I got my bundle," said Chris.

"Me, too!" said Martin, "And thanks to the centipedes ability to feel vibration and long antennae, we can still feel our way out without having to see."

The Kratt brothers crawl out of the rotting log while Wavy-Legs and the goliath tarantula still duke it out, back to the Tortuga.

"You youngsters will be safe here," said Chris laying down the centipede larvae.

"You'll be safe once mom returns," said Martin also laying down his bunch.

"That is if their mom does survive," said Aviva.

The brothers deactivate and Koki and Brandon rub ointment on their faces to rid of the itchy tarantula hairs.

"For all I know, that tarantula might have been too powerful for her to handle," said Koki.

All of the sudden, Wavy-Legs reappears into the Tortuga.

"Like I said before, never speak too soon," said Brandon.

"Did she actually win?" Jimmy asked.

"Or more like broke out of the fight and came here to collect what's hers," said Chris.

Wavy-Legs gathers all of her larvae into her clutch and crawls out.

"Look at her, the ultimate predator and mom," said Martin, "Crawling out with her larvae, living free and in the wild."

"Well now that that's done with, I can really use some shut eyes," said Koki who climbs back onto her tarp.

"Me too, I'm beat," said Jimmy who also climbs onto his tarp.

"I really need sleep to be energized tomorrow," said Aviva who climbs onto her tarp.

The Kratt brothers roll out their sleeping bags and lay down.

"Whelp, a late night mission well done," said Chris who lays down and sleeps.

Martin yawns, "We'll see you on the Creature trail."

Just as they go to sleep, their alarms go off, signalling it is 7 in the morning. Everyone screams.


End file.
